Clean and Refill Water Softener

The salt storage tank of your water softener needs to be cleaned out from time
to time. The salt storage tank will accumulate debris and may even develop a
salt bridge, making the unit ineffective. No brine, no softening! Cleaning the
tank is a serviceable item for which you do not need to "Call the Culligan
Man".

Unplug unit
Avoid spilling salt pellets
Do not inhale salt dust
Carry two buckets at a time for balance

Level of difficulty

Time Required:

1 hour

Steps

Lift up brine valve assembly

Step 1:

Disconnect the power to the unit, although it should be set only to run during
the early morning hours. Remove the salt tank cover and
look inside. You want to carefully
lift the brine valve out of the smaller 4"
chamber and set this aside.

Carefully lift out float assembly

Step 2:

There are numerous parts to the valve assembly and
you need to be careful with the float valve.

Old brine and scum

Step 3:

If you want to save any dry salt, scoop this out and place this in a clean
container. Now scoop out and discard as much of the remaining salt and brine.
If you procrastinate like I do, there may not be any salt, just some
nasty looking brine.

Cloudy reservoir fluid

Step 4:

You will notice how cloudy the water is.
This may be especially true if you use cheap salt.